Kefka (Final Fantasy) Discussion: There's a reason "oppose" rhymes with "dispose"!

Background

Kefka Palazzo is a powerful mage / jester and the main antogonist of Final Fantasy VI.  FF6 was one of the most popular entries in the series, commonly rivaling FF7 for the title of "greatest FF of all time" and receiving numerous ports and updates, including most recently a port to IOS and Android as well as the Amazon Appstore, making it playable on Amazon Fire TV and Kindle.  Kefka himself has appeared in 12 spin-off games and 3 outside series' (Dragon Quest, Lord of Vermillion, Puzzle & Dragons).

Kefka represents a complete departure from the usual villain formula, especially in prior FF games, and this has led him to become one of the most popular villains in FF history.  While 6 did not have one hero character who stood out (arguably Terra did, but not by much), Kefka stood out from the rest of this game and the entire series.  Other villains of FF have been cold, distant, ruthless and bent on their goals.  Kefka is loud, maniacal and destructive.  His popularity as a villain of FF is rivaled only by Sephiroth of FF7.

TL;DR and for those unaware of the character/game:

Basically, imagine DC's The Joker and give him powerful magic and godhood with the desire for nothing but destruction, for the fun of it.

Why Kefka?

Kefka debuted on the SNES, and his game stands out as a lasting classic of FF's days on Nintendo exclusivity.  He is recognizable, unique, popular, interesting, reps the series well and reps most importantly the Nintendo side of the series.  And because Sephiroth is mainly a Playstation villain, Kefka is uniquely suited to fit the villain role in smash for FF.

You can read more about Kefka here.  I recommend the Personality section.

What can he bring to the game?

Kefka will offer a mage ability-set, but unlike any other mage ever presented Kefka will rely on trickery, deception and baits with how he uses his power.  Keep in mind the tactics of The Joker here, it's all about Sleight of Hand (and the fun of course!) before going for the kill.

Moveset

Tilts, throws, aerials, jab and dash attack should all be some combination of elemental spells, given unorthodox twists.  Dissidia variations of basic fire/ice/lightning spells could be drawn from, and there's also the Heartless Angel technique, Confusion status (some attack or throw inflicting the "dizzy" state most likely), and FFRK access to dancer skills can all be drawn from if necessary.  Heartless Angel in particular would be a good one to use, he started off the final battle with it and brought the entire party to 1 HP no matter what.  The attack basically involves some angels falling from above, but there's really no room for it unless maybe on a throw.  Here's the real meat of the moveset:

Forward Smash Hyperdrive
Kefka's charging animation for this move looks like he is sleeping while hovering in midair.  When the charge is released, he suddenly 'wakes up' and launches a series of explosions along the ground in front of him.  After the first two, these explosions can track opponents upwards into the air.



Down Smash - Meteor
Kefka summons two orange meteor orbs on either side of himself which fall to the ground from slightly above his own height.  They explode on contact with the ground, but then suddenly shoot out of the explosion in a straight line towards the nearest opponent on their respective sides of Kefka.  If no opponent is targeted, that orb goes straight along the floor.



Up Smash - Ultima
Kefka shoots a tiny energy orb out of his fingertip pointing up.  This seemingly harmless little thing travels slowly a short distance, then violently explodes multiple times over a wide area above Kefka.



Neutral Special - Forsaken
Kefka endures a long start-up time, however this animation is shared with down and up special (see down special for reason and use, then see extra note at the end of the special moves).
After the start-up if Kefka has not been attacked, he summons a field of energy above the nearest opponent.  This field stays a short distance above them no matter what for a set amount of time, and every second or so drops an orb of energy.  These orbs fall somewhat slowly and ONLY straight down.  However, they explode on contact with the opponent or the ground, or after a short distance of hitting nothing.



Pictured:  Energy field in the upper middle that stays above opponent, falling energy ball in middle of photo, and bottom is what the explosion looks like

Side Special - Zap-Trap Thundaga
Kefka targets the nearest foe, and after a brief signature start-up animation they are encased by lightning, which is not in contact with them.  If they move, they will be hit and take big damage and stun.  This move is perfect for catching hasty opponents and forces your opponent to constantly be thinking rather than constantly rushing.

Down Special - Illusion Trine
Kefka performs his taunt...seemingly.  EXACT same animation.  If attacked during the taunting, he disappears and the opponent is assualted by Trine, 3 magic triangles appearing around them which quickly close in for damage.  Inflicts Dischord, lowering that opponent's damage output and increasing damage intake for a short time.  If Kefka is not attacked, he will have some kind of a long end lag with it's own distinctive animation, making it risky for him to just throw this out whenever he wants.



Up Special - Havoc Wing
Kefka starts with his taunt if he is on the ground, then turns semi-god to sprout his large wings and attack forward with them. He then uses them to boost himself upward rapidly



Note: Because Up/Down/Neutral special all start with taunt, this is a perfect illusion mix-up.  The opponent has no idea whether the follow-up of the taunt will be a large physical attack, a field that will follow them around dropping bombs, or no follow-up at all.  If they try to attack Kefka during it, they risk it being the counter attack rather than the vulnerable start-up time of an offensive special move.
The shared animation does not necessarily have to be his taunt, it can be it's own thing.  Up to spriter's or whatever.


Final Smash - Kefka's Tower


The Warring Triad appears, which Kefka absorbs into himself and become God Form.




Once he has done this, he summons debris from off-screen and/or the stage ground to create his tower.



Kefka sits atop his tower and summons down multiple Light of Judgement beams, dealing massive damage and pretty much killing anyone hit.  These beams are very similar to Ness/Lucas' finals smash, but they travel in straight vertical lines and reach the floor near instantly.


Conclusion

Overall, Kefka is an extremely unique and important part of FF history and a fan favorite.  He's also just crazy enough to work as a sole FF villain rep, and like The Joker can appeal to both hardcore fans and newcomers alike.  Support Kefka today!

I never played FF6, but I always did wonder why we couldn't have Kefka when asked for a FF rep. Never got a real clear answer....

I love the concept of the taunt leading into attacks, so long as the taunt is his classic laughter. Would be nice if he had other tricky ways to mess with his opponent... not sure what he has, though.

Anyways, definite support.

Going to support

I will support Kefka, but you cannot have the main antagonist of a game without the main protagonist of the same game.

Spoiler:

Unfortunately, there's nothing at all interesting about Terra. Personality, ability set, she's extremely lacking. She only has 2 things going for her: Mage, reps FF6. Kefka is both of these things but better, and more. FF6 also did not have a truly stand out hero representative that you could say is the sole protagonist for the game, so unlike Cloud for FF7 she really isn't that good of a rep choice. Besides, if there were 2 FF reps in game having them BOTH be from the same entry in the series is just about the worst thing you could do. You would have to bring in like 5 reps at minimum after Kefka before even considering looping back around to FF6 for Terra.

Perfect Hell wrote:

Unfortunately, there's nothing at all interesting about Terra.  Personality, ability set, she's extremely lacking.  She only has 2 things going for her: Mage, reps FF6.

Uhm...Esper, anyone?
Also, I'm surprised at the fact that a female lead (a first in the Final Fantasy franchise) who can use magic (something underrepresented in all Smash games including Crusade) and is partially an Esper (and important part of the plot) and thus can tranform is considered less interesting than Cloud, who is just yet another guy with a sword, whose only real gimmick is Limit Break, which is very similar to Lucario's aura (similar, but not the same).

First of all I totally support. Kefka has been one of my favorite FF since I played 6 and he even was my main in Dissidia so seeing him in crusade would be amazing. Also is it just me or does it seem like in every FF character thread someone brings up Terra

TrinitroMan wrote:

Perfect Hell wrote:

Unfortunately, there's nothing at all interesting about Terra.  Personality, ability set, she's extremely lacking.  She only has 2 things going for her: Mage, reps FF6.

Uhm...Esper, anyone?
Also, I'm surprised at the fact that a female lead (a first in the Final Fantasy franchise) who can use magic (something underrepresented in all Smash games including Crusade) and is partially an Esper (and important part of the plot) and thus can tranform is considered less interesting than Cloud, who is just yet another guy with a sword, whose only real gimmick is Limit Break, which is very similar to Lucario's aura (similar, but not the same).

Esper form is something for Final Smash food. That is no more noteworthy than Kefka's own God form, in fact it's less noteworthy.

Female lead is certainly somewhat unique as far as FF goes, but now there's Lightning as well, and quite a few of the games feature females as the secondary leads (tifa, yuna, rinoa, garnet, ashe, etc. are all more important than any other character in their games besides the protagonist themselves). Besides, gender alone does not really make her suddenly the best candidate when more important things i've already named are working against her. It's a small bonus point at best.

Do i really have to go into what Cloud has again? "Just another guy with a sword" is the most ignorant argument, and it's been addressed in detail before. Besides, this is not Terra v Cloud, this is Terra v Kefka. Once the game itself is repped once, Terra can't even be argued against others simply because we wouldn't want to over-rep any singular FF game. Terra could still have her own support thread, but I don't plan to make it.

TrinitroMan wrote:

I will support Kefka, but you cannot have the main antagonist of a game without the main protagonist of the same game.

Spoiler:

Stop self-promoting your threads all the time. There wasn't a need to bring Terra up.

But anyways...

Kefka's not a bad choice, really. But I really think, Final Fantasy-wise, we need Cloud and Chocobo Knight; that's it. Kefka is a funny and creative character that I will agree has had universally positive reception. I'm really conflicted on this thread.

I'm leaning on a support because what's the harm to it, and Kefka's a good idea. But I'm really just conflicted, so I'll report back to you on this soon.

I think we should only see Kefka after a hero rep from Final Fantasy, though.

Except I never made a Terra thread. Please double check the forum before you decide to commit assumicide.

TrinitroMan wrote:

Except I never made a Terra thread. Please double check the forum before you decide to commit assumicide.

Except you've bought her up numerous and tons of times in the past even when it's not relevant, lol. I simply recalled you making a thread, but thread or not Terra is not a good choice compared to the numerous other better choices such as Kefka.

Also, support!

As much as I would love to see Sephiroth in Crusade, I still hugely support this. Particularly great is that whole illusion gimmick with the specials. Wow, that's awesome. Great moveset.

And, yeah, his laugh needs to be incorporated somehow. Even people who haven't played FF6 recognize the laugh. It's like One-Winged Angel. Which is something that should be incorporated into Sephiroth's moveset, if someone suggests him.

Why i don't supported this yet?
Read my lips - I support this!

support

Support